In a context of ever faster globalisation, citizens and their environment are clearly put under pressure. This article introduces the cohousing movement as a model to make life more social and greener in an urban context. Cohousing communities are neighbourhood developments that creatively mix private and common dwellings to recreate a sense of community, while preserving a high degree of individual privacy. In that respect, cohousing fits perfectly well with degrowth economic theories. Yet, cohousing goes beyond theory as this phenomenon that started in Scandinavia 30 years ago is now spreading in the Anglo-Saxon world since the 1990s, and more recently in the rest of Europe and in Japan. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.